Carpenter drowns as ‘Blacka’ claims another life

Aug 02, 2016 News

The Emancipation Day celebration took a deadly turn for one family yesterday, when a 27-year-old man drowned in the Lamaha Canal, popularly known as the “Blacka” in ‘B’ Field Sophia.
The dead man has been identified as Ryan Jones, a father of one, of Charlestown, Georgetown.
According to reports, Jones, a carpenter, plunged into the canal sometime around 13:40 hrs and never came up back until one of his friends dived and brought him up.
He was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
The dead man’s friend, Jimmy Gravesande, said that he and about six friends including Jones were playing football in Albouystown and they then decided to go take a “wash down” in the Blacka after the game.
When they reached to the canal, Gravesande said that he made it his duty to ask if everyone could swim to which they all responded in the affirmative.
“When I asked, he (Jones) said that he could swim and he take his comb out of his hair and jumped in behind me,” a teary Gravesande recalled.
He explained that after he plunged into the water, he came up back and was about to dive back into the water, when his other friends asked him if he was sure that the carpenter could have swam because he did not “come up” back.
“When they asked I said (Jones) said that he could swim. Everybody started looking and my brother dive into the water and come up back with him,” the friend said.
He explained that they immediately placed him in the vehicle and rushed him to the hospital.
Another friend, who was seen crying, said that he was hitting Jones’ chest while pleading with him not to give up on life.
“Water was coming out of his mouth and blood started coming out of his nose. He was not dead as yet. I was begging him to stay with us,” the friend said.
He explained that while it was a norm for them to go and hang out at the Blacka after playing football, it was Jones’s first time at the canal.
While a post mortem will reveal the exact cause of death, the friends said that a doctor informed them that the father of one had broken his neck.
“We don’t know how he broke his neck because he jumped into the water with both feet.”
Jones’s child mother was not in a position to speak to the media.

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